Rambling Narrative of Travels, Thoughts, and Embellishments

Setsubun in Kyoto and Nara Video

Setsubun (Feb 3rd) is a Japanese Spring ritual where Japanese drive bad luck in the form of Oni (devils) out of their homes with a handful of tossed beans. At temples and shrines, they do mame maki which is throwing beans and other things to gathered crowds.

Setsubun is one of my favorite Japanese holidays and I’ve been celebrating it for the past 6 years or more. In the past I always celebrated it at temples and shrines in or around Tokyo. This year I headed for Kyoto taking in Nara in the evening as well.

I started Setsubun on the 2nd with some Geisha mame maki (geisha were throwing beans that is not that they were throwing geisha). On the 3rd, I went to 6 places starting with Yasaka Shrine for a brief mame maki by people in old court costumes then I went to Heian Shrine where they were doing Kyogen, traditional comedy plays set inbetween Noh dramas. After Heian I went to the small temple Shogo-In where they pelted 3 devils then later the devils threw beans at us! At a tiny temple near the old Imperial Palace, they had three devils arrive with weapons only to be driven away by beans and chants.

After that I took a train to Nara and got there in time to see yet another Oni demonstration. Here the devils were defeated by Bishamonten or Bishamon, Buddhist deity and Guardian of the North. It was like spiritual pro-wrestling with weapons. After that I went to Kasuga Taisha Shrine for a cool down. They had their hanging lanterns lit up for Setsubun. It was very beautiful.

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[…] Setsubun in Kyoto and Nara Video « Samurai Dave: The Roving Ronin … This year I headed for Kyoto taking in Nara in the evening as well. I started Setsubun on the 2nd with some Geisha mame maki (geisha were throwing beans that is not that they were throwing geisha). On the 3rd, I went to 6 places … more .. […]

Really enjoyable video blog! Would love to enjoy Setsubun in Kyoto (but then again, any excuse to go to Kyoto). Love the night scenes! In Sapporo, they use Azuki beans for the mamemaki… intersting to see the variety across cities, and even from temple to temple.

About Samurai Dave

Hey,

I’m a vagabond traveler currently teaching English in Japan. I like travel, history, festivals, culture, and good beer. I’ve been to about 30 countries though some no bigger than a kitchen table. I’ve run with the bulls of Pamplona, hiked the Inca Trail, got mugged in Mexico City, floated down the Nile in old boat, climbed the Great Pyramid of Egypt, got ripped at Oktoberfest, and rode the Tokyo Yamanote Halloween Party Train.

This blog is a chronicle of my adventures both current and past along with socio-political commentary and stories on cultural activities. I’ve also recently got into video editing so I’ll be posting more of my video tales here. Ronindave YouTube Site